Re: [PEN-L:16867] Richard Rorty and social security

[James A Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 06 Mar 2000 07:27:51 -0800 Michael Perelman
<michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> The problem that Louis seems to be noting is that a move is afoot to
> make
> social security means tested which converts it to a welfare program.
>  Rorty
> doesn't realize that once a program becomes a program for the needy,
> that it is
> doomed.

The most successful social programs are those that are univeresal with no
means-testing.  The British NHS was long successful precisely because it
provided universal coverage.  When successive Conservative and Labour
governments began to provide options that enabled more affluent people to
drop out in favor of private health insurance then the NHS began to
become
underfunded and overstreached.

Jim F.

>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>

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